Chapter 13
We'll begin with flight, which has so long eluded you. It has always been dormant, but only kept so by fear. You must let go, Kal-El...
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"Jesus! Finally!" Bart was sitting on a loveseat in the lobby of the Lurline Hotel.
Oliver threw up his hands. "No way you've been here that long."
"It was, like, a half-hour for me. You have no idea how motivating freezing cold is."
Chloe noted his ever-present red sweatjacket. "Why didn't you wear something warmer?"
He shrugged. "Where's my bag?"
"Get it yourself." This, from Victor, who was still miffed that Bart hadn't shared the load. "Get a few more while you're at it."
"Fine." Bart got up and shuffled forward slowly. He suddenly pointed upstairs. "P.S.- that old guy's a total douche."
Chloe looked up as if she could see him. "Lionel? He's here?"
"Yeah. He's all, 'who are you supposed to be?' and I'm all..."
"Just get the bags," Victor snapped. "We'll all talk when we're private."
Oliver stepped toward the desk as Bart went out the door, Chloe assumed, to carefully disappear. They all crowded behind him. "Good evening."
"Hi, there," the balding man at he desk said cheerily. "You kids here for the snowshoe action, eh?"
Lois forced a smile. "Definitely. But we'd like rooms first." She rolled her eyes as the clerk bent to check the ledger. "Snowshoe action," she mumbled. "As if this effing icy tundra wasn't bad enough."
Chloe was glad to hear her complain, for a change. It felt like the old Lois. She jumped as Bart appeared next to her. There were three bags at his feet. "Would you be discreet?" she hissed. "The guy's right there."
Bart looked up. "He's not looking." He was holding an empty sandwich bag. "Who ate my cookies?"
Chloe sighed. "I don't know."
"Mrs. K said they were just for me and..."
"Bart, just get the other bags," Victor snapped. "And go slow."
Bart shuffled to the door again, muttering.
The desk clerk came up for air. "Oh, boy. I don't got any doubles left. Just four singles. That's all I got..."
Lois groaned. "There are six of us." Oliver whispered something in her ear and she perked up. "We'll take it."
Chloe found herself jealous again. She stepped away from the group. It could be her last night on Earth and she'd spend it alone.
The clerk turned around to retrieve some keys and Chloe found Bart beside her again. "Uh, Chloe..."
"Christ, Bart, stop it!" she hissed. "The clerk's gonna..."
"Chloe, I think I know who ate my cookies..."
"Bart, I could really care less who..." She trailed off as she turned saw what he had in one hand.
It was Lucy Lane's arm.
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Lois paced the room Chloe would now be sharing with Lucy. If it wouldn't turn her ire on Chloe, Chloe would have told her she looked just like her father.
"Martha is now worried sick, but you don't care, do you?"
"I just..."
"She was crying when we called, but you just don't care."
"I do," Lucy pleaded, trying her gaze on Chloe. "I just wanted..."
"To what? Join the fun? Do you think this is fun? I've killed two men, Lucy, and I'm not laughing!"
Chloe rushed to the bed and enfolded Lucy as she began to weep in earnest. "Just let up, Lois."
"She's going to get herself killed if she..."
"We're all aware of your concern," Lionel Luthor said from the now open door. "But we've waited long enough." Chloe saw Oliver's concerned face over his shoulder.
Lois turned to glare at him. "You stay out of this, Luthor."
"You're wasting time," he insisted. "You can berate your sister after we've discussed strategy or you can stay with her and be left behind. Your choice." He turned and disappeared. Oliver moved forward.
"Lois..."
"I know," she said softly before turning to Lucy again. "Just... Just stay here. Come on, Chloe."
Victor had won out over Bart and A.C. to get his own room. His argument was the equipment and it was a weighty one. It was the unofficial war room. Two folding tables borrowed from the desk clerk stood facing each other. Victor moved between them, plugging it all in. Three laptops, two generators, a row of headsets plugged into a surge protector, four satellite dishes that revolved...
"Are we all here?" Lionel asked loudly, his voice hoarse, but carrying. Six sets of eyes turned to him, some narrowed. Not everyone trusted Lionel Luthor. They had good reason not to, but Chloe felt they now had good reason to. They were here, within reach of Ruby Ridge, and it was due to him. "Good," he rasped. "I know that this hotel is the nearest to the target area. I know this because its charges appear on Luthorcorp's expense reports over a hundred times. That is all I have."
Bart rolled his eyes. "That's it? Why are you even here?"
"Because none of you know my son as I do," he said gravely. "The insight I can give may prove invaluable."
"Oh, insight," Bart drawled. "And here I thought you had a plan..."
"Bart, stop it," Victor barked. "Save your energy."
"What do you mean by that?"
"We don't have exact coordinates. Someone has to sweep the surrounding area. And something tells me the Bell would be conspicuous. We don't know how guarded this place is. We need your speed to scope it out."
"But how far in each direction? That could be like years." He slumped on the bed. "It blows being the only guy that can run worth a damn. Man, we could really use Boyscout right now."
Lois piped up. "Who's Boyscout?"
Chloe glared at Bart when he looked like he might answer. "It's code," Bart answered quickly. "For this... other thing we have that's fast..."
Lois furrowed her brow.
"Bart," Chloe said slowly. "Lex wouldn't call the project Ruby Ridge if it wasn't at least near the place. Use your head."
Victor paced the length of the tables over and over. This was what he lived for - strategy. His machine-like mind revelled in it. "There's an order to things. First, know where it is; second, scope out physical security; third, scope out electronic security; fourth, disable all; fifth, plant explosives; sixth, detonate..."
"Seventh, get the hell out," A.C. added.
Bart laughed. "Eighth, drop Luthor's sorry ass in a mental ward and..."
"You guys," Chloe sighed, throwing a glance at Lionel. "Just stick to the first three for now."
"It's getting dark," Oliver said. "Now would be a good time to prep."
Bart got up and ambled over to the tables. "Headset, good buddy."
Victor handed him one, then dug in a box on the floor. "Hope she still has a charge." He handed bart what looked like night-vision goggles, but bulkier.
"That thing?" Bart whined. "It smashes my face."
"Can't be any worse, Dude," A.C. quipped.
Bart sneered at him as Victor placed the goggles on his head. "Video," he said to the room at large. "We need to see what he sees." Victor attached a wire to Bart's headset and stepped back to tinker with one of the dishes. "We're green."
"Great. Can I go? It's dark enough." Bart turned to the window. "I want to get this over with."
"Go," Victor barked.
Bart started for the door.
"Hey, Impulse," A.C. called out.
"What?"
"I'll keep the bed warm for you," he said, winking.
"Oh, shut up."
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"Scenic Ruby Ridge. Home to snow and more snow and probably f*cking wolves and..."
"Shut it," Oliver said loudly as they crowded around the monitor and speaker. "And keep moving."
The snowy paths, green in the glow of the night vision lens, blurred.
Lionel Luthor was transfixed. He seemed nearly impressed with Victor's grasp on technology. "A man like you would have been a great asset to Luthercorp in my day," he'd said.
"Before or after you finished prodding me with needles?" Victor still didn't like Lionel. Hell, Chloe didn't either. But the seven of them were in this together. Or eight.
She thought of Lucy in the room down the hall. Lois had brought her dinner and, though they were terse with each other, they seemed to be accepting their situations: Lucy, her isolation, and Lois, her inability to send Lucy to clear safety.
"Okay." The on-screen image went from blur to hill. "I'm at 62/150 according to the map."
"Are you sure?" Victor asked.
"Yes, I'm sure. For the last time. Forward to 63 degrees." The picture blurred again. "Shit!"
"What?"
"Got guard action," Bart whispered. "I'm at the pass. Right in the middle."
"Okay," Oliver said. "Don't do anything nuts, just take it in and move on."
"I could take him out instead."
"It's not time for that yet," Victor said. "You're not equipped."
"Fine. It's a shack. Glass and metal, dim light inside, pretty primitive otherwise. Big douchebag with a gun reading a paper." The image agreed, then moved around. "Nothing else. Don't see any... wait."
"What?" Chloe asked.
She heard a click and the image turned red. She could see faint lines crossing from one side of the shack to a metal pole where the snow faded into rocks. It was the same on the other side. "You're getting this?"
"Yes," Victor said.
"It's about three feet to jump, a sensor every foot. Piece of cake. Moving." The image blurred, then stopped at one identical to the last. "Half mile up. Same thing. This one's sleeping.... Another half mile. Got another sleeper."
"Stay in the dark," A.C. warned.
"It's all fucking dark."
"And don't get too close," Chloe added.
"Anything for you, Baby... Another half-mile. I'm seeing a pattern... Shit!"
Lois jumped. "What?"
The image blurred and Chloe saw a large rock. "Thought he saw me. Guy was taking a piss." He let out a breath. "I'm cool. In fact, I'm freezing."
"Just get back to work," Victor barked.
"Fine." The image changed to the familiar blur and then... there was no shack. There was a huge, warehouse-like structure. "Yes," Bart hissed. "Freakin' Bingo." The image blurred again before settling right back where it had been. "Okay, we got men stationed at every entrance, twenty in all. Probably relief guys sleeping inside. Then we got our four buddies along the pass, but only for two miles."
"What about electronic monitoring?" Victor asked.
"I need to get closer... Trust me to wear red. I really wish I'd worn white," he sighed, "but it's after Labor Day."
"Please be careful," Chloe begged.
"Just for you.... We got crisscross action up and down the walls, doorways, just all over. Probably the roof, too. Look built in so there can't be a breach. The only time it stops is when... Yes. I got one opening a door. He's punching in a code and. Guys, I gotta..."
Oliver leaned forward. "What?"
The screen blurred and then went dark. "I'm in," Bart whispered.
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Chapter Fourteen
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